DUNLAP AND STARKS DUELING FOR A JOB

King Dunlap is balancing his quest for a starting job with his recovery from a minor hip injury.

“First and foremost,” Dunlap said, “I’ve got to be healthy to compete.”

Returning to practice Thursday, three days after leaving practice, he took only half the snaps.

“I just wanted to see where I am at, and how I felt,” he said. “I kind of worked back into it. I didn’t want to jump back into it too fast.”

Max Starks also aspires to be the left tackle Sept. 9 against the Texans. Until Dunlap hurt his hip, Starks worked with the second team.

But Starks deems other tests as decisive, not his depth chart position.

“It’s going to really come down to games,” he said of the four exhibitions, starting with the Aug. 8 visit from the Seahawks.

Dunlap last year started 13 games for the Eagles, 11 at left tackle.

Starks was the only Steelers offensive lineman to start all 16 games, and twice has started in a Super Bowl victory.

In comparison, last August the Chargers had doubts about the durability of projected starter Jared Gaither, who fulfilled those doubts, and were preparing as their starter undrafted rookie Michael Harris though he’d never played left tackle at UCLA.

That’s better

Porous on Wednesday, the offensive line rebounded with a decent performance.

“It’s a give and take,” Starks said. “Obviously, if one side was always winning, your team’s not getting better.”

Starks praised the maneuvers of defensive coordinator John Pagano, who wasn’t scooping vanilla.